‘Red Dead Online’ Treasure Maps, Story Missions, and How to Make Money

Everything you need to know.

You might have amassed a fortune in Red Dead Redemption 2, but when you jump into Red Dead Online you’ll be starting from scratch. Even worse, weapons and other items somehow cost a lot more in this multiplayer game than they do in the solo experience (cough microtransactions cough). Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to make money in Red Dead Online, from treasure maps and story missions to a pretty clever hack. Here’s what you need to do to get that money.

Loot Everyone

If you kill another non-player character or another online player, make sure you loot their body immediately before it disappears. You might find cash, food, or other items worth pocketing. If you’re lucky, you’ll even find a treasure map, which brings us to our next tip…

Go Treasure Hunting

The treasure maps in Red Dead Online don’t have as big a payoff as in Red Dead Redemption 2, but they’re also a lot easier, VG247 reports.

Each treasure map will simply activate a red marker on your in-game map. Follow it to a location and root around until you find the treasure, which usually comes to anywhere from $25 to $100. You’ll get one treasure map when you start and another at Rank 10 so be sure to take advantage of both.

Do All the Story Missions

Initially, Red Dead Online’s story missions won’t pay much, but the more you progress the more money you’ll get. The first big payout ($150 to $250 in in-game currency) is called “Kill Them, Each and Every One.” Once you get to that point you’re in the money.

Go Hunting

Just like in RDR2, hunting animals and selling their pelts is an easy way to make money in Red Dead Online. In this version of the game, you’ll make the sale to a butcher. Also make sure to use a bow and arrow or some other lightweight weapon. If you hunt with a shotgun the pelt you end up with won’t be valuable to anyone.

Check Out the Multiplayer Modes

There’s a lot of different ways to compete with other players in Red Dead Online, from horse races to “Make It Count” (a Battle Royale-style mode). These won’t pay a ton, but they’re fun to play and at the end, you’ll have a little extra cash. Win-win.

Hack the System

Finally, if you’d rather cheat your way to riches, there’s a hack to do just that. The only catch, according to RockstarINTEL, is that it requires wasting a ton of time. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1) Create a character, don’t put any thought into it because you’re not going to keep them.

2) Complete the six first story missions to reach level 8 and earn roughly $450 and 0.7 gold bars (or keep going to level 10 for even more cash).

3) Hit pause, scroll to Player, and press down on Square/X to delete the character. You’ll lose all progress but (for some reason) keep your money.

4) Rinse and repeat

Those early missions are relatively easy and a guaranteed way to earn cash, but they do take roughly 2-3 hours to complete and you’ll probably get sick of them after the first few times. By then you should have more than enough money to buy yourself something nice.